Marked for Gerónimo Miranda
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Jul 2030
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market1 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Jun 2030
Three points for Cerro, 5‑4 the final word against Plaza Colonia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Tempers go at Cerro
Cristian Barros was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Cristian Barros
10 goals and a season average of 7.49 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
Marked 9.88 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
A performance of 8.85 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at San Telmo now.
Market24 Dec 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Telmo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Dec 2029
San Martín SJ are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. San Telmo will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Ramiro Montoya asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at San Telmo now.
Market26 Nov 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Nov 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerónimo Miranda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Sergio Jara asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market26 Nov 2029
The clock does Gerónimo Miranda’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee San Telmo could ask drops and the wages Gerónimo Miranda can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at San Telmo now.
Market29 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerónimo Miranda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market29 Oct 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Wages eat 96% of everything San Telmo earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Ramiro Montoya knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ramiro Montoya trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Oct 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fernando Rodríguez Venialgo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market29 Oct 2029
The clock does Gerónimo Miranda’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee San Telmo could ask drops and the wages Gerónimo Miranda can ask rise.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
San Telmo keep producing them
15 graduates from an academy now rated 4 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at San Telmo now.
Market1 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerónimo Miranda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market1 Oct 2029
Franco Abrego hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Wages eat 98% of everything San Telmo earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martín González trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market1 Oct 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sergio Jara may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market1 Oct 2029
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what San Telmo could get for him.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
San Telmo keep producing them
15 graduates from an academy now rated 4 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Defensive actions: 31. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market27 Aug 2029
Only the photograph left for Juan Motroni
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Motroni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market27 Aug 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Leonel Pollacchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.61 on the card, and the San Telmo support went home talking about one name.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match25 Aug 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Talleres will be the happier side with the point.
Market27 Aug 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Telmo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Telmo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market20 Aug 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market20 Aug 2029
NK Osijek paid $2.4M and San Telmo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
A defender's afternoon for Juan Motroni
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match18 Aug 2029
Mitre made San Telmo work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match14 Jul 2029
The wait goes on for San Telmo
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Telmo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Leonel Pollacchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market16 Jul 2029
Add another name to the list: Defensores have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lautaro Lobo. The answer from San Telmo has not changed — yet.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
No signings allowed at San Telmo
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The San Telmo debt reaches $21.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Marked 7.70 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, San Telmo had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jun 2029
San Telmo make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now San Telmo have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Leonel Pollacchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market4 Jun 2029
The phone has started ringing about Lautaro Lobo again, and this time the name on the line is Estudiantes. San Telmo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$469.9K of the owner's money at San Telmo
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Telmo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Leonel Pollacchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
A performance of 9.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match28 Apr 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonel Pollacchi. 2‑1 against Talleres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
A performance of 8.99 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Marked 8.36 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gastón Viera, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Apr 2029
No end in sight to San Telmo's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Telmo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Apr 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market16 Apr 2029
Luis Montilla has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Telmo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Apr 2029
Colón left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
114% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad16 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Ramiro Montoya
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Apr 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Mar 2029
5 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Román Gamarra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
San Telmo cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
San Telmo are $20.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
A defender's afternoon for Juan Motroni
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Mar 2029
Franco Abrego hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Telmo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match17 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for San Telmo
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad19 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
130% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Marked 7.87 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, San Telmo had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Román Gamarra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
San Telmo cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
San Telmo are $20.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Luna, and the manager let it.
Match24 Feb 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Central Norte came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.